Several months after fire that caused damages to the Veera Vasantharayar mandapam, the sixteenth century building inside the temple, the damaged portions are getting a facelift, now. It was early in February this year, such portions in the mandapam was hit by the fire, gutted 39 shops and caused extensive damages to pillars.

According to N Natarajan, Joint Commissioner, Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments and Executive Officer of the temple, said, the renovation works, which are in progress, would be over in a month or two. Prior to taking up the renovation work, a dedicated team from IIT, Chennai lifted samples from sixteen stone quarries in various parts from Kanniyakumari to Yercaud. Concrete structures in the damaged portion were so porous, the Joint Commissioner told DT Next, on Sunday.

This 2,000-year-old historically significant temple, which stands tall in the heart of the city, has undergone renovation several times by rulers of the yore, C Santhalingam, a Madurai based archaeologist (retired) and founder of Pandya Nadu Centre for Historical Research, said. Men at helm during their rule made great progress in developing the buildings in the temple.

Dating back to 550 AD – 950 AD, when the Pandya kings ruled Madurai, this historic temple witnessed brick and mortar building. Later during the eighth century, it was converted into a stone structure and transformed into various forms in the tenth century and after. He said after the rule of the Vijayanagar Empire, most of the mandapams including the thousand pillared hall, Kambathadi mandapam and Veera Vasantharayar mandapam were built during the period of Nayak rulers in Madurai during the 16th century.

Referring to its ancient structure, he said, the temple, which sits on 16 sprawling acres, had massive towers at gateway in four different directions. East tower, which was built by the Pandyan king – Maravarman Sundarapandian during the 13th century, was the oldest among all towers. The west tower was built by the king Parakrama Pandyan during 14th century, the south tower by Sevanthi Mudhali, a feudal lord, during 15th century and the north tower by Veerappa Nayak in the 17th century. 

Above all, south tower was the tallest-standing structure, measuring to 156 foot high. “On the whole, the temple has 12 gopurams, two ‘vimanas’ – (super structure constructed above the sanctum sanctorum) and seven ‘praharas’- (circumambulatory passage). The temple draws a huge crowd at the time of Chithirai festival, Navarathiri and during Lord Ayyapa season, Dr Santhalingam said.

As for A Mathuram, City Engineer of Madurai Corporation, when a referendum was held, nearly one lakh voters supported Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple to attract more facilities under the ‘Smart City Mission’. Thiruparankundram Murugan temple and Vandiyur Mariamman temple were less opted in the referendum. Hence, more developments such as smart roads were expected near the temple. Already, the chithirai streets had been pedestrianised, he said.

KP Bharathi, Adviser, Tourism Development, Dhan Foundation, Madurai, said, criteria did not suit this temple to bring in the list of UNESCO’s world heritage site as there were some restrictions. However, the growing popularity of this temple attracts scores of devotees and a lot of tourists from countries abroad. “On an average, 40 lakh visitors get access to the temple annually and about 15,000 to 40,000 on a daily basis,” he said.